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We’ve got some great results for you this week so read on as we reveal what happened in the currency markets.

An overview of the currency markets for April 27th – May 1st 2015

So as the week begins, can we hope for an encouraging performance by the British pound? It began proceedings on 1.5119 against the US dollar and dropped to a lower rate of 1.5110 on day one, so it wasn’t the best start. However the following day saw the pound rise to 1.5282, while Wednesday was better still, as the pound headed to even better territory of 1.5363. We couldn’t imagine this continuing but it did, and by Friday night the pound was standing at 1.5432 against the US dollar. This was an impressive week so far, but would it continue?

Our next stop will be with the euro, and the opening rate here was 1.3968 before the pound took a dive to 1.3962. However the pattern started to become a little more encouraging on Tuesday as it had against the US dollar. The pound rose to 1.3986 against the euro there, so while it was a small rise it was still worth reporting on. The question now was whether the pound could maintain that position and get in some other good results throughout the rest of the week. Unfortunately it was not to be the case, and in fact things got progressively worse. The pound ended the week on 1.3760 – rather worse off than we’d hoped.

Moving on to Hong Kong now, the pound started the week on 11.717. A drop to 11.711 on day one wasn’t encouraging, but as things turned out we were merely getting the bad news out of the way first. The rest of the week was a breeze for the British pound, as it produced day after day of good results. In fact by the time the week was over it was standing on a more impressive 11.961 – not bad considering we had started off in poor fashion.

Our fourth stop will be with the New Zealand dollar. Here too we didn’t get off to the best of starts, dropping to 1.9896 from the opening rate of 1.9981 on Monday. However although we had another marginal drop in the exchange rate on Tuesday, things soon perked up after that. Clearly the pound was keen to save the best for last. By the time the week was up the pound was impressively standing on 2.0265 – rather better than the opening rate had been just a few days earlier.

The final stop this week will be the same as usual, with the Australian dollar. We opened proceedings here on 1.9393 before having three days of bad news. This meant the British pound eventually finished up on 1.9217 by Wednesday night. With bad news of that variety, could the British pound manage to redeem itself by the time the week was over? It seemed a tall order but that is exactly what happened. The final exchange rate for the week turned out to be 1.9486 – rather better than we’d thought.

Notable events in the world of currency

Good news against the Canadian dollar

The pound managed to soar from 1.8323 to 1.8549 this week – good news indeed against the Canadian dollar.

A slight drop against the Swiss franc

There was bad news here though as the pound went from 1.4440 to 1.4429 this week.

Another drop, this time against the Icelandic krona

Things were disappointing here too, as the pound started on 205.554 and fell back to 202.522 by Friday.

Clearly there was plenty to watch for this week, as the British pound performed largely very well. There were times when it became clear it would not perform well across the board, but on the whole there was plenty to be appreciative of. It remains to be seen whether things will be as good next time, as we go into election week. This type of event can have a marked effect on how the pound does abroad, so we will be watching.